With an aim to improve the army's ability to fight what China terms "informationized conflicts"[a] and enhance the PLA's power projection capabilities in space and cyberspace, the PLASSF was a force purportedly designed to break stovepipes in the intelligence sharing and coordination departments of the different branches.

[2] At the 2015 China Victory Day Parade, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary and Central Military Commission (CMC) chairman Xi Jinping announced sweeping reforms to the structure of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the state security apparatus.

On 22 December 2015, the Chinese PLA newsletter, Liberation Army Daily, reported that as part of the joint military exercises taking place that same year, strategic and logistical support forces were included in those exercises along with Intelligence and other high-profile units among the Central Military Commission.

[citation needed] On 31 December 2015, the PLA Strategic Support Force held its first annual meeting at the Bayi Building in Beijing.

[7] On 24 July 2019, the government white paper "China's National Defense in a New Era" published by the State Council Information Office stated: The strategic support force is a new type of combat force to maintain national security and an important growth point for new combat capabilities, including battlefield environment protection, Information Assurance and Communication Security, Information Security, testing and integrating emerging technologies, among other things.

The position of Secretary was originally held by Deputy Political Commissar Lu Jiancheng (2016–2019).

List of military bases under the NSD:[17] On 19 April 2024, the Network Systems Department was reorganised as the independent People's Liberation Army Information Support Force.

Stationed at Luoyang in the Henan Province, Base 33 serves as the metrology and instrument measurement center.